Duquesne Basketball

Greg Amodio became Duquesne

Greg Amodio became Duquesne's athletic director before the 2005-06 school year. -- DUQUESNE

News/views: Amodio out as Duquesne AD

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by • News/views •

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

News: Greg Amodio has left his position as Duquesne’s athletic director, which he’d held since 2005, to take the same position at Quinnipiac.

Views: Man, I sure I hope they shoo-shoo rah-rah responsibly on the Bluff.

Amodio was a disaster from Day 1. And somehow his tenure only worsened year after year, and his departure is the very best thing that could happen to the school’s once-signature men’s basketball program, followed by the imminent — and equally welcome departures of Dr. Charles Dougherty as president and Rev. Sean Hogan, the peculiarly powerful executive director of student life who, remarkably, was able to exercise his authority to devastate both the basketball program and the Tamburitzans, another university institution that only recently — wisely — decided to break away.

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Friday Insider: Lemieux, Gretzky to the rescue?

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Edmonton Oilers v Pittsburgh Penguins

Sidney Crosby is congratulated after his power-play goal Thursday against the Oilers. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Roundup of a lot of randomness from a lot of time around our teams …

• Rick Tocchet, the coach responsible for the Penguins’ maddeningly unproductive power play, is reaching far and wide for answers. In fact, while the team was in California over the past week, he reached out to the two highest possible authorities: Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.

“Who could possibly know more?” Tocchet was telling me Thursday morning at Consol.

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Hard to dispute. Lemieux and Gretzky — in that order, I might add — were the two greatest power-play performers in hockey history. They could see one, two, even three plays ahead with the extra man. They could dissect the scene with a glance, orchestrate to the extent they knew what their teammates would do before their teammates did. And if you think that’s old-school hyperbole, pop in an old VHS and watch for yourself.

Still, that’s not what interested Tocchet most in their perspectives. Rather, it was this: How does a power play best function with multiple elite talents?

You know, such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the key figures in a power play that was 0 for 12 over the four games before going 1 for 3 in the 6-4 setdown of the sickly Oilers Thursday night at Consol Energy Center.

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Tuesday 12 Qs: Sid, Beard, Derrick, Lambo, Jamie

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Pittsburgh Penguins v San Jose Sharks

Sidney Crosby puts the body into the Sharks’ Melker Karlsson late Monday night in San Jose. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. Use the comments below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: And away we go …

Tuesday12Qs

cbattin: Hey, Dejan, it seems like zone entry is a major reason why the Pens falter on so many power plays. They constantly get caught up in the neutral zone, and it wastes valuable time. Is this because they don’t have a legitimate power play quarterback or is their power play philosophy all wrong? And has zone entry been emphasized at all in practice?

DK: Actually, it’s funny that you say that, because zone entry has been a really big emphasis through practices over the past month and — at the risk of respectfully disagreeing with you — I think they’ve gotten a lot better in that area.

But the power play as a whole?

Wow, what an abomination it’s becoming.

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Column: Duquesne rots from the head down

by • Columns •

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Micah Mason launches a first-half 3-pointer over the Davidson defense Saturday. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Dominique McKoy deserved better.

He’s Duquesne’s only basketball senior and a coach’s dream beyond the standard experience and leadership a senior should bring. He can’t run or jump or shoot with the biggest or the best, but he’s all heart and soul, a 6-foot-8 forward with bouncing dreadlocks and an exposed, chomped mouthguard who huffs and puffs his way to an extra half-inch each night.

Saturday night, the Dukes’ finale at the Palumbo Center, was no exception: He pushed and pounded his way to 15 points, eight in a frenzied opening five minutes, as well as eight rebounds. If anyone would be intimidated by facing Davidson, the Atlantic 10’s finest, it wouldn’t be No. 3.

“Domo,” his coach, Jim Ferry would say later, “was outstanding.”

Two hours later, the LED high overhead read as follows: Davidson 107, Duquesne 78

Immediately below, McKoy, emotion on the sleeve as always, was disconsolate as he’d begun to walk off, then halted at the 15-foot blue and red logo at center court. His head was buried in his right hand. The dreads, however slightly, trembled. And it wasn’t until a teammate offered a gentle nudge a few seconds later that he finally headed off.

This isn’t McKoy’s fault. Or any player’s fault.

The climb goes way, way up to sniff out this rot.

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Tuesday 12 Qs: Polanco, Staal, Tuitt, Ferry

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Gregory Polanco smashes a ball high and just to the right of the big batter’s eye at Pirate City. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. Use the comments below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: Away we go …

Radio Wave: DK, do you think most Pittsburgh fans are in favor of or against Major League Baseball’s new pace-of-game rules?

Tuesday12Qs

DK: I’ll sometimes praise or criticize fan behavior or sentiment, but I’ll never advise on what anyone does or should think. I’ve honestly got no clue, though I’d be interested to hear more of what some of you think beyond what I’ve already read in comments.

It was brought up with Clint Hurdle in Bradenton a couple days ago, and he bluntly told us he wouldn’t put much more thought into it than happily supporting any initiative MLB wants to take in this regard, adding, “We’re aware that we’re in the entertainment business, and I know that Joe Torre has done a lot of work on this.”

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Friday Insider: ‘Time running low’ for trade plan

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Calgary Flames v Pittsburgh Penguins

Blake Comeau scores in the Penguins’ Dec. 12 win over Calgary. He’s due back next week. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

CALGARY, Alberta — Roundup of a lot of randomness from a lot of time around our teams …

• The NHL trade deadline is March 2, which is almost a month away and, yet, far too close for the Penguins’ comfort, if one asks Jim Rutherford.

“Time’s running low,” the GM was telling me yesterday as part of a wide-ranging conversation we had on the state of the team. “If you think about it, we’ve really only got a couple of weeks.”

Couple of weeks rather than a month?

“We need to see what we’ve got.”

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That made immediate sense. Because as Rutherford went on to explain, management’s foremost priority as it relates to the deadline is to find out if they’ve already got the top-six wingers they need. And that, of course, means waiting on Blake Comeau, who should be back in action next week.

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Column: The real divide between Duquesne, Pitt

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Duquesne and Pitt line up for the National Anthem before tipoff Friday at Consol. — DUQUESNE ATHLETICS

DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

The divide between our city’s two Division I basketball programs is not 14 points.

Nor is it the 14 consecutive victories for one over the other.

Yeah, both those figures played out Friday night at Consol Energy Center with James Robinson’s career-high 23 points headlining Pitt’s 76-62 dunking of Duquesne in the 83rd City Game, but that symptomatic snippet doesn’t begin to tell the tale.

Because it isn’t about the Panthers getting a stunning 12-point showing from ultra-spare center Joseph Uchebo, any more than it’s about all the Dukes’ myriad shortcomings cited in a blistering postgame review by Jim Ferry, any more than it’s how the overwhelming majority of the 14,905 in attendance showed to support Pitt.

No, it’s about Ryan Luther.

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